The present invention generally relates to packages for containing and displaying products and, more specifically, to so-called clamshell packages having two halves typically formed of plastic and sealed together prior to purchase use by a retail consumer.
Clamshell or blister pack packaging is a very popular type of packaging for many consumer products, including electrical and electronic products, such as portable compact disc players, cassette recorders or players and other portable audio or video products. Quite often, the clamshell packaging is designed to be theft resistant while also enabling the product design and features to be clearly displayed to the consumer at the retail level. However, while achieving these objectives, this type of packaging can be very difficult to open for young and old consumers alike.
Typically, the consumer must use scissors, a knife or another device with a sharp cutting edge to open the package and, even in such cases, many packages can still be difficult to open.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a clamshell package that is both permanently sealable, for example, for shipment and retail display purposes and to provide theft resistance, but which is subsequently usable in a resealable manner by the consumer. It would further be desirable to provide a clamshell package that is easier for consumers to open than previous clamshell package and blister pack designs.
The present invention generally provides a clamshell package for holding and displaying a product in which first and second outer clamshell members may be initially permanently sealed together and, subsequently, affixed to one another by a consumer in a selectively engageable manner to allow selective access to the product. In one preferred configuration, the first outer clamshell member includes a first three dimensional pocket area for holding a portion of the product and a second outer clamshell member having a second three dimensional pocket area for holding another portion of the product. Each of the first and second outer clamshell members include a removable sealing portion with the removable sealing portions adapted to be permanently sealed together to hold the product between the clamshell members. In further accordance with the invention, selectively engageble fastening structure is disposed on the first and second outer clamshell members generally adjacent the first and second sealing portions when the sealing portions are sealed to each other. The first and second sealing portions may be removed such that the consumer may then selectively engage and disengage the fastening structure to allow selective access to the product and reuse of the clamshell package.
Although other sealing methods may be used, one preferred manner is to heat seal or ultrasonically seal the sealing portions together, while another option may be to adhesively secure the sealing portions together. Each method results in a permanent connection between the clamshell members. The selectively engageable fastening structure may also have many different configurations. In general, it is desirable to provide fastening structure of the type enabling a simple snap-fit or frictional fit of the two clamshell members together. For example, the fastening structure may comprise at least one bead disposed along a peripheral portion of one of the first and second outer clamshell members and a mating recess disposed along a corresponding peripheral portion of the other clamshell member. One or more beads may then be selectively received in a corresponding one or more recesses to selectively open and close the clamshell members. Optionally, the clamshell members may simply have respective inner and outer surfaces that nest together in either a snap-fit or frictional fitting manner. Other connection methods and structures are possible as well.
In one embodiment of the invention, a plurality of beads are disposed about respective peripheral portions of one of the outer clamshell members and a corresponding plurality of mating recesses are disposed about respective peripheral portions of the other clamshell member. This can allow, for example, the use of a hinge portion between two of the beads and recesses such that the consumer may open and close the clamshells using the hinge portion and engage the beads and recesses with one another to close the clamshell. Other configurations using a hinge structure and one or more selectively engageable fastening structures are within the scope of this invention as well. In the preferred embodiment, the hinge portion is formed at least in part by respective sealing portions of the first and second outer clamshell members and is disposed along an upper peripheral portion of the clamshell members. One or more cutting indicator lines may be disposed adjacent at least one of the first and second sealing portions so that a consumer may use scissors or other means to remove the sealing portions. This cutting indicator line may comprise a series of perforations and the same series of perforations may be used as a hinge line when a hinge portion is utilized in the clamshell package. In the preferred embodiment, the first and second sealing portions are disposed peripherally outside of the fastening structure and the cutting indicator line or lines are disposed between the sealing portions and the selectively engageable fastening structure.
In one embodiment, three separate pairs of sealing portions are utilized around the periphery of the clamshell members, with one of the sealing portions capable of being left in place by the consumer to provide the hinge portion. In another embodiment, the sealing portion extends around at least substantially the entire periphery without designating a specific hinge portion to be optionally left intact by the consumer. In each case, the sealing portions are easily removable by the consumer, for example, with a pair of scissors, to leave the selectively engageable fastening structure intact to enable further, selective access to the product by the consumer or others.
These and other objects, advantages and features of the invention will become more readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon review of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.